Just because a development plan is approved doesn’t mean it’s ready for construction to begin and it’s misleading to suggest otherwise.
That’s the claim at the heart of a language dispute presented to city council by the Guelph Wellington Development Association (GWDA) on Tuesday evening in response to the city’s 2023 Growth Management and Affordable Housing Monitoring Report.
The report shows there is a short-term supply of 5,873 approved housing units in the city, but developers claim it’s actually much less.
“I want to respond to the rhetoric that there are approximately 6,000 units that are being sat-on by the development community,” association rep. Scott Hannah told council’s committee of the whole. “It's really not that accurate and we're hoping that it will stop.
“The provincial definition of short-term supply, it creates a false narrative.”
He went on to explain that many of the sites face obstacles to construction, such as the developer’s lack of financing, ongoing litigation, existing tenant leases or contamination that must first be addressed.
“They all create constraints and they take lots of time and lots of money to resolve,” said Hannah. “Less than 2,000 (units) are actually permit-ready.”
Hannah asked council to expand the report in future to note which projects are “shovel ready” and suggested city staff reach out to developers to find out why they’re not moving ahead with approved projects.
“But that's not the city's responsibility or fault,” responded Coun. Cathy Downer. “It’s not the responsibility of our staff to do your site plan application.”
Site plans are among the final steps needed before construction can begin, followed by building permits.
Hannah went on to suggest developers shouldn’t be required to provide as many studies and detail as they currently do in order to have their applications considered complete, which is what starts the approval process.
“Do you need 23 studies to make a complete application or you need 10?” he asked. “If you’re reviewing plans that you don’t really have to review, you’ve got more time to work on other things.”
The committee took no action on Hannah’s requests, but city staff indicated a willingness to work with the association on expanding the annual report.
